Deciduous or semi-deciduous shrub or small tree to about 8 m tall or so. Leaves opposite, occasionally alternate, elliptic, ovate or obovate, 4-7 cm long, 2.5-4 cm wide (larger on young plants), blue-green above, paler beneath and slightly waxy at first, entire, often bunched at the ends of the branches, veins pale and conspicuous. Leaf stalk about 3 mm long. Flowers in terminal spherical clusters 4-7 cm wide on thin stalks 4-5 cm long, each with about 15 flowers, pinkish to mauve with a floral tube about 1.5 cm long, scented, the head subtended by 4 conspicuous green bracts that become woody with age; Nov-Dec.

S Africa.

VIC: Hastings ('Coolart').

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Thymeleaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.